Martyn Cox's Blog, page 2

The Return of Mystery Guess – The Answer

All is now revealed

Firstly, let me apologise. I know when I posted The Return of Mystery Guess I said I'd reveal the answer the next day. Well, as you can see, it's only taken me over a week to provide the answer. Ah well, better late than never. Thanks to all who guessed their hearts out, but in this instance the house has won. The close up item was not part of a plant pot (Rod, Vicky, Alison, Carbernat), the sole of a shoe (Victoria, Rothschild Orchid, Rod) or even the inside of my brain (t...

The return of Mystery Guess

What am I?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the return of Mystery Guess, the blogospheres must irritating gardening quiz. If you've never played before, let me quickly explain the rules. I post a close-up picture and ask you to guess what it is. Simple. There are no prizes, medals or fanfares for winning, just the opportunity to crowned Mystery Guess Champion of the World. I usually post pics of plants, but this time around it's an item/thing/object that you commonly find in the garden...

My Garden vs The England Football Team

What did you do on Sunday 27 June? Well, if you're English, German or a fan of football/soccer/the beautiful game etc etc, you probably spent the afternoon watching England crashing out of the World Cup in such a dismal fashion that at 5pm, millions of vuvuzelas emblazoned with the cross of St George were snapped in two by disgruntled fans, a collective sound that could be heard as far away as Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Sadly I was unable to witness such a pathetic last stand in its...

Moggy Monday

Purdey reclines on the alpine sink

I've never posted anything about my cats, so thought it was about time I remedied such an oversight. Here is Purdey squashing a rare Digitalis dubia in my alpine sink, and Poppy, the feline goddess of summertime, sensuously exposing her magnificent tum to the rays of the sun. Meowver and out.

Poppy kicks back in the sun

Hard boiled Eggheads

The mighty Hardy Perennials

"These people are among the greatest quiz players in Britain. Together they make up the Eggheads – arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country. The question is…can they be beaten? Taking on the awesome might of our quiz goliaths today are…The Hardy Perennials."

Haven't got a clue what I'm going on about? Let me explain. If you're sat in front of the box at around 6pm, these are opening words you'd hear spoken by Dermot Murnaghan, a man oft described as the ...

For those about to open their gardens, I salute you!

Visit my garden and help raise bags of cash for charidee

So little time, so much to do. Yes, it can only mean one thing…that I'm just about to open my Walthamstow bolt-hole for the National Gardens Scheme. This will be the second time (you can read about all the tears, merry making and cake chomping on my garden opening debut here) that I've thrown open my front door and allowed complete strangers to traipse through my house to the 30ft by 15ft back garden, and I have to say, despite...

The Hoardiculturist #8

I haven't blogged for an age, so thought I'd mark my return with The Hoardiculturist, my regular (but irregular) series on the stuff I collect. So far I've covered Pez dispensers, succulents, postcards, Xmas records and lots of other tat, but the hoard I am about to reveal is (arguably) my most embarrassing by far.

Let me explain. When I was a kid I was given a thin paperback book called I-Spy Car Numbers, which was given to me by my parents as a device to keep me quiet in the back of the car ...

Dr. D. G. Hessayon, I presume?

What's your favourite?

Do you remember the first ever gardening book you brought? I can vividly recall mine. It was The Indoor Plant Spotter by Dr. D.G. Hessayon, which I acquired from Reg Taylor's Garden Centre, Southwell, Nottinghamshire in 1985. Back then I was a teenage house plant fanatic wanting help to identify plants and this newly published book, which was packed full of pics, illustrations, bite-sized bits of copy and sexy botanical names was just what I was looking for.

The simple...

The grim spectre of death strikes my garden

A sad sight - a group of dead aeoniums

I don't want to scare you off before you've even read the first paragraph, but this post is all about DEATH. Over the past few months, the grim reaper has hung out big time at my house. Not only did we lose our beloved hamster Hamboleyn to old age (he lived to a respectable 18 months), but his replacement, the timid Fluffy Banana, lasted only three weeks before her life was cruelly taken by a feline assassin called Poppy – even for a hamster, a creature w...

For those about to quit…I salute you!!

Anti smoking advert

Do you remember the anti-smoking campaign from the early 1980s that featured Superman fighting a wizened, pale faced, ciggie addicted villain called Nick O' Teen? Well, many years later I fancied my chances of landing the super villain role when Action on Smoking and Health, or ASH if you prefer acronyms, decided to resurrect those ads for a new generation, so I duly put my name forward for the part I thought I could play with some conviction.

Actually, as the canny among y...